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Husky basketball twins carry team on their backs

You can’t exactly call them the Twin Towers, because they’re hardly ever on the basketball court at the same time.

But Mammoth Huskies Alejandro and Francisco (“Cisco”) Flores are most definitely identical twins, so much so that coach Jason Patterson has needed to devise a few tricks for telling them apart.

“They wear different colored shoes,” Patterson said, “so that’s how I can tell them apart most of the time.
“And they wear their hair slightly differently.”

A first time visitor to a Husky practice wouldn’t know, though.

They are wide-body forwards, and their behavioral tics are identical. Their voices come out with the same tone and inflection.

And it is obvious that they are best friends.

“We get into arguments,” Alejandro said, “but they always last about five minutes.”

Said Cisco:

“It’s great being a twin because you have someone to do stuff with. You never have to go by yourself, whatever it is. This afternoon we’re weightlifting, for example.”

The Flores twins also give the team something every team needs, and that’s senior leadership.

They are the only two seniors on the team, and with no juniors at all, Patterson said he’s pleased he has not even had to ask them to also act as big brothers
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That’s hard to do when a team reaches February and has yet to win a game
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But both Alejandro and Cisco are upbeat and playful at their practices, even though they may have gotten whomped the night before.

“We’re getting better every single day,” Cisco said. “We’re playing against kids who are bigger and more skilled than we are.

“We’re a pretty young team. It’s pretty rough, but Mammoth will be good in two years.”

Patterson, a first-year coach, said it has been a pleasure to coach the twins.

“I’ve seen a lot of growth with both those guys.

“It’s why you get into coaching, to see the growth from the kids, and not just on the court or the field, but off the court, too.

“They’re our captains and we have to have senior leadership. They’ve given that to the team.”